Exploring the causes of America's interrupted liberty

RIP Civil Discourse

Brett Kavanaugh has been confirmed as the next associate Supreme Court Justice. And, in an extreme twist of irony, the Democratic Party, who so vehemently opposed his confirmation, helped put him there.

Let me explain.

The circus surrounding this whole Brett Kavanaugh issue, including the sexual assault accusations, has prevented any discussion of the real reasons why Kavanaugh should not be on the Supreme Court. A woman bringing up an incident that allegedly happened almost 40 years ago is what made him unfit for the bench to most people who opposed him, NOT the fact that he was instrumental in helping to draft the PATRIOT Act, one of the most unconstitutional pieces of legislation to ever make it out of Congress, if not the most unconstitutional. Not the fact that as an appellate judge, he upheld parts of the PATRIOT Act and has been quoted as saying that the 4th and 5th Amendments basically do not count in the war on terrorism. If you’ve been paying attention at all since the PATRIOT Act was passed, then you should know that it decimates the 4th and 5th Amendments to the Constitution which protects citizens’ rights to privacy and due process. Kavanaugh has been quoted showing his support for the Act, something a sitting judge should never express. He has said that the government metadata collection is “entirely consistent with the 4th Amendment” and “critical national security need outweighs the impact on privacy occasioned by this program.”

Since the accusations that Kavanaugh groped a woman at a high school party, people have come out of obscurity with additional stories of atrocities that Kavanaugh allegedly committed in his wild youth. The resurgence of the #MeToo movement led to additional hashtag movements like #WhyIDidntReport and #BelieveWomen. People make excuses for Kavanaugh using the “boys will be boys” and “he was drunk” arguments while others scream that women should be believed and men are guilty until proven innocent. I actually saw one of my Facebook friends this morning say “God is good! Kavanaugh has been confirmed!”

Ugh.

I saw a video of a wackjob liberal (Wait, is that redundant?) (Kidding. I know all liberals are not wackjobs.) roundhouse kick a woman who was arguing with him about his beliefs. She did not touch him; she did not accost him in any way. She simply questioned his beliefs and he kicked her. I actually saw people supporting the man for what he did and saw people say that more people need to be kicked in the face.

For disagreeing with them. For not automatically believing a woman’s accusation over something that happened almost 40 years ago. For being anything other than a stark raving mad (insert favorite party affiliation here).

Basically, as a woman, I could not care less about Kavanaugh’s wild past. I could not care less who he groped, or who he showed his penis to, or who he threw ice at in a bar. As an American citizen, however, I do care that he has upheld the PATRIOT Act and that basically, he is the team player that the Trump administration desperately wanted on the Supreme Court. The sexual misconduct allegations that were allowed to play out in Congressional hearings, prevented the true reasons why Kavanaugh is not worthy of sitting on the Supreme Court. The great divide that is present in this country was only widened by the spectacle that was the Kavanaugh hearings, and intelligent, rational people are even more afraid to speak their minds than ever before.

So, because civil discourse is dead, and because no one in the Congress actually cares about the Constitution, we now have one of the authors and a major supporter of the fucking PATRIOT Act on the fucking Supreme Court. An author of the Act, and a supporter of the Act. On the Supreme Court.